The New Gate

After breakfast, everyone was free to go on their own.

Shin, Filma, and Milt were the three participants in the “Wrought Iron Battle Festival”. Only Shin was in the blacksmithing competition. Milt was also participating in the battle festival as part of her training.

Schnee, Tiera, and Sety went shopping. The merchants had gathered, so they went for a stroll to see if there was anything unusual. Yuzuha and Kagerou were with them.

Shibaid was looking at the weapons. He seemed interested in the masterpieces forged by past winners in the blacksmithing competition.

“Then, if there’s anything you need to contact me about, use 【Mind Chat】. I think I’ll be back by night, but this is my first Wrought Iron Festival, so I might have to stay overnight.”

Overnight work was not an impossible proposition. Filma and Milt, who would be at the martial arts festival, should not have such a time-consuming match, so Shin informed them that if anyone could not return, it would be him.

“Shall we go then?”

The innkeeper told them that the reception desk for the Wrought Iron Festival was located at the entrance to the arena, so Shin, Filma, and Milt walked down the main street to the reception desk.

Many stalls were set up on the main street, which was filled with voices calling for customers. There seemed to be some stalls in the back alley as well, but there were very few customers as it clearly had a suspicious atmosphere.

Milt checked out the assortment of goods in the stalls as she walked.

“There are all kinds of things for sale. Maybe because it’s a blacksmithing competition, there seem to be a lot of weapons and armor.”

“It’s fun just to look at these things. In the game days, there were hidden bargains, or conversely, there were weapons that were just for jokes.”

Those who hid and sold one special item among their ordinary workpieces. Those who were passionate about making equipment that resembled anime and manga characters for cosplay. There were people who made and lined up items that randomly applied buffs, debuffs, and so on. It was all fun and games.

“Did they sell anything that caught your eyes, Shin?”

“There was a guy who made weapons with interesting mechanisms built in. It was different from my principles, so we just exchanged opinions; it was fun.”

The person made gauntlets that shoot small arrows from the wrist and helmets that have incredibly bright eyes. They were basically used for surprise attacks.

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“I’ve seen that glowing helmet thing before. They were used as torches in caves. At first I thought it was a monster. Isn’t it too dazzling to the user themselves?”

Milt, remembering those days, asked Shin with a laugh.

“It’s actually a function to blind the opponent at close range. But you can’t launch a surprise attack if you yourself are blinded. The person who made it burst out laughing when he heard that story.”

—I’m not sure how many people would use my armor in an area where magic lights are forbidden. It’s so funny! I-I can’t stop laughing! Ahahahaha!

The person’s laughter replayed in Shin’s mind.

In fact, it even became a bit of a topic of conversation.

“Don’t you make things like that, Shin? You say it’s not your principle, but you’re still interested in that technology, aren’t you?”

Filma asked in an amusing tone, and Shin nodded.

“I’ve made some as jokes. Things like a gauntlet that flies towards the target using fire-element magic, and a helmet that shoots blade-like decorations using wind magic.”

Influenced by the cosplay equipment craftsman and the gimmick craftsman, it was the result of trying to recreate rocket punches and special effects hero techniques.

“You also had a lot of fun, Shin.”

“When you think you can make something, you make it, that’s what engineers do.”

When Shin started making them, it was more fun than he thought, and he ended up making something with ridiculous power, which was a secret only Shin knew. To use something like a flying gauntlet properly, one would need a STR of at least 500, otherwise the user would either fly through the air or roll on the ground.

“Then that thing on my armor, it’s not the original, isn’t it?”

Filma was referring to the magic power-blast function in her armor.

“Well, there were already people who tried to attach it to a tube and make it fly like a multistage rocket, and people who tried to challenge the limits of height. That’s the kind of function it has.”

“Are they a fool?”

“It’s the nature of engineers to want to see how far they can go.”

There was no doubt that they were joking around, but they were serious in the sense that they were challenging the altitude limits of the area and the impossibility of flight.

While the three of them were chatting away about old times, they arrived at the arena.

The reception desk for the blacksmithing competition and the battle festival seemed to be separate, so Shin parted ways with Filma and Milt and got in the line.

There were a few people ahead of Shin, and it was soon his turn.

In addition to his name, the form also had a section for writing down his school and the highest grade of the weaponry he had ever made.

Shin hadn’t heard of any blacksmithing schools since coming here, but he guessed that each school passed down their skills and techniques.

Shin himself didn’t belong to any particular school, so he wrote it as his own style.

The preliminary round would start tomorrow, and he was actually right before the registration deadline, but as long as he could participate, he didn’t mind.

Some people seemed to come early to check the environment they would be competing in, what kind of equipment they would be using, and so on.

“Number 56? Is that too many? Or is it too few?”

Shin had expected there to be more people, but he changed his mind, thinking that it was strange that there were hundreds of famous blacksmiths.

As Shin was convinced that this was the case considering the time and effort required to move around, a buzzing sound mixed with screams reached his ears, different from the good kind of the bustle of people calling out and customers and merchants interacting with each other.

“Hmm?”

The arena was on a hill, higher than the main street. Because of this, Shin happened to be able to see the commotion from where he was.

“With more people, there will be more trouble. But that’s going too far.”

The source of the commotion was a young man swinging a sword around. He was swinging his sword wildly as if everything around him was an enemy. His eyes were bloodshot and his breathing was heavy, making it hard to believe he was sane.

“What is this?”

Shin felt something was off about the sword the man was holding and was about to activate his skill to get a better look. Just then, some men in conspicuous red uniforms came over and restrained the raging man with ease.

They were probably guards or something. Two of them immobilized the violent man, while the remaining two informed the surrounding area that it was safe.

The sword lying on the ground was hidden in the shadow of the men and could not be seen.

“Impressive, isn’t”

The one who spoke to him was Kluck, whom he had met yesterday. A little distance away, Elamella was also visible.

Shin knew he was approaching, so he replied calmly.

“Yes. they’re very skilled at it.”

“Have you registered?”

“Yes, I was surprised as I made it just in time.”

“Me, too. I was in a cold sweat when I found out that the preliminaries started tomorrow.”

Unlike Shin, who was just hoping to participate, Kluck, whose goal was the tournament, must have been terrified. There were traces of cold sweat on Kluck’s forehead as he said he was also glad he made it in time.

“I was number 49. Can I get your number, Shin?”

“I’m number 56. If that’s the number of people who registered, is it too many? Or is it too few?”

“I heard that the number was less than 50 for the previous participants, so maybe there are more this time.”

Shin wanted to see other people’s skills, and he was a little hopeful that there would be more people so he could gain from a larger number of people.

“Even so, when people gather together, conflicts increase, and many of these are no joke.”

“By that, you mean there are others like the one just now?”

“Yes, once yesterday when I was looking for a place to stay, and once on my way here. There was a man with a weapon like the one I just saw who was on a rampage. All of them were quickly subdued, but isn’t that a bit worrisome?”

“Yes, it is. The person who just came in seemed to be acting a little strange.”

The flow of people returned to normal, and there was no sign of anyone causing a disturbance. However, Shin’s intuition told him that the source of the strange feeling was not good.